LAHORE - Mohammad Yousuf and Aleem Dar are the only Pakistanis nominated among the initial list of players and officials for this year's ICC awards. Three players - Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies, Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena and South Africa's Dale Steyn - have been tipped to enjoy a bumper night in Dubai on Wednesday. There are little chances that Pakistan's solitary entry among players Mohammad Yousuf would survive any shortlistings leaving the country's lone official Aleem Dar fancying an outside chance. Nothing better could reflect the state of country's sports than this. While hockey and other Olympic sports bodies bemoan of lack of funds as major reason of their poor performance, cricket cannot hide behind any such excuse. It comes as a huge surprise when a nation of 170 million cannot produce a single outstanding player in what is overwhelming its singular national sport for about two decades now. Aleem Dar has surged into the listing with a consistent performance over the last two years. A few controversial decisions in the 2007 World Cup had affected his standing but since then he has made a steady recovery. Number two has been his best on a couple of occasion. Simon Taufel has a chance of winning an unprecedented five successive Umpire of the Year awards after being nominated alongside Mark Benson, Aleem Dar, Steve Davis and Rudi Koertzen. Meanwhile, one nominee for the Cricketer of the Year prize is South Africa captain Graeme Smith while his team-mate Jacques Kallis is a further nominee in the Test category. Each is nominated in both the Cricketer of the Year and Test Player of the Year categories in the LG ICC Awards 2008, the fifth staging of the event which was established in 2004. None of the four players shortlisted for the Cricketer of the Year Award has previously lifted the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy so there is certain to be a new name to join the roll-call of winners. Players who have secured the game's top individual honour in the past are Rahul Dravid of India (2004), England's Andrew Flintoff and Jacques Kallis of South Africa (joint winners in 2005) and Australia captain Ricky Ponting (back-to-back winner in 2006 and 2007). India's one-day and Twenty20 International (T20I) captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is another player with plenty to look forward to on Wednesday. Dhoni is also nominated for two prizes - the ODI Player of the Year and the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year, the latter for his captaincy in leading India to the inaugural title in South Africa last September. The T20I award is new this year and recognises the latest form of the game at international level.Dhoni leads his country's charge in this year's shortlists as he is one of four India players in with a chance of taking home a prize from cricket's night of nights. Also nominated are Sachin Tendulkar (ODI Player of the Year), fast bowler Ishant Sharma (Emerging Player of the Year) and Yuvraj Singh (T20I Performance of the Year, to mark his six sixes against England in Durban last September). Ishant faces tough competition in the Emerging Player category with Sri Lanka mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis, England all-rounder Stuart Broad and Morne Morkel, the South Africa fast bowler, also vying for the trophy. In the T20 Performance of the Year, Dhoni and Yuvraj are up against Chris Gayle of the West Indies and Australia's Brett Lee. Gayle's 117 from 57 balls in the opening match of the ICC WorldTwenty20 was the first hundred in the international form of Twenty20 while Lee captured a hat-trick against Bangladesh in Cape Town, another first for T20Is. Lee is one of three Australians nominated this year along with Nathan Bracken in the ODI Player category and Lisa Sthalekar, who is shortlisted for the Women's Cricketer of the Year for the second year in a row. Also nominated for the women's prize are Claire Taylor of England (another shortlisted for the second successive year), New Zealand's Nicola Browne and England captain Charlotte Edwards.Thomas Odoyo of Kenya is aiming for back-to-back success in the Associate Player of the Year category, but faces opposition from team-mate Alex Obanda, Ryan ten Doeschate of the Netherlands and Niall O'Brien of Ireland. The shortlists for the LG ICC Awards 2008 are as follows: Cricketer of the Year: Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Mahela Jayawardena, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn. Test Player of the Year: Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Mahela Jayawardena, Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn. ODI Player of the Year: Mohammad Yousuf Nathan Bracken, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar. Emerging Player of the Year: Stuart Broad, Ajantha Mendis, Morne Morkel, Ishant Sharma. Associate Player of the Year: Ryan ten Doeschate, Alex Obanda, Niall O'Brien, Thomas Odoyo. Twenty20 International Performance of the Year: Chris Gayle, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Brett Lee, Yuvraj Singh. Women's Player of the Year: Nicola Browne, Charlotte Edwards, Lisa Sthalekar, Claire Taylor. Spirit of Cricket: Bangladesh, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, West Indies. Umpire of the Year: Mark Benson, Aleem Dar, Steve Davis, Rudi Koertzen, Simon Taufel.